LOVE BITES

RELEASED 9 JULY 384 pages | Paperback/ebook Author Ry Herman Publisher Jo Fletcher Books

Angela’s dead. Once a fairly normal astronomy student, she was accidentally-on-purpose killed by her girlfriend – and that’s only the start of her relationship problems. When she wakes up as a vampire, she vows not to repeat her cruel ex’s mistakes: she’ll keep her affliction secret, feed without killing and avoid getting emotionally attached. Then she meets Chloë, an aspiring writer with plenty of her own psychic baggage thanks mainly to her own ex, and things start to get really complicated.

With its cast of vampires, angels, witches and werewolves, it’d be easy to shelve this alongside a hundred other YA paranormal romances. The only thing that sets it apart, really, is an extremely explicit sex scene in the middle (and the fact that the characters are in their twenties rather than their teens).

Even so, it’s pretty tame for the genre. This is a book where the most exciting thing anyone does is talk about their feelings; beyond that, nothing much actually happens, and even the deus ex machina in the final act is just someone popping by for a chat.

Still, its depictions of depression and trauma are heartfelt, and its message of hope is hard to resist. If you’ve grown out of Twilight but still fancy some monsters in your comfort reads, this could be just the sweet, emotionally literate, non-sparkly love story you’re looking for.